Educational game



United States Patent [72] Inventor Evonne H. Cornblatt Alexandria, Virginia (143 St. Patrick St., Rapid City, $1) 57701 [21] Appl. No. 717,748

[22] Filed April 1, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 1, 1970 [54] EDUCATIONAL GAME 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

2,526,123 10/1950 Dawson 273/146UX 3,118,675 1/1964 Lyle 273/14sx FOREIGN PATENTS 692,582 6/1953 GreatBritain 273/102(B) Pri jnary ExaminerAnton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-Paul E. Shapiro Attorney-Harold L. Halpcrt ABSTRACT: A game for teaching children how to count and distinguish colors while developing the power of concentration and muscular coordination. A die having a different color and indicia on each side is provided for use with a board having the same colors. The separate colors on the board are bounded by different geometrical outlines. An ejector and tokens of the same colors as used on the board and die complete the game articles. The die is rolled to indicate the color which is to be covered by the token. The token is ejected from the ejector to cover the selected color on the board. Success is rewarded by giving points indicated by the indicia on each side of the die. The die is hollow and provided with a removable face to define a storage device for the board, tokens, and ejector.

Patgnted Dec. 1', 1970 J/WE/VTO-Q E.H CORNBLHTT EDUCATIONAL GAME This invention relates to a game and more particularly to a game for educating children.

Games for educating children are not new but usually suffer from a shortage of life because the parts are easily lost, and during a useful life are limited in the number of disciplines which can be taught. Many such games fail to maintain interest for a period of time necessary to train the child in the desired disciplines.

It is therefore an object of this invention to produce an educational type of game with a long useful life.

It is a further object of this invention to produce a device as aforesaid in which the number of disciplines to be taught are coordinated to maintain interest by the use of a plurality of types of amusements.

It is a further object of this invention to produce a device as aforesaid which will motivate the child to persist in playing.

It is a further object of this invention to produce a device as aforesaid which will develop the power of concentration and muscular coordination.

These and other objects of the invention will become manifest upon reading the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates the playing of the game;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the game board;

FIG. 3 s a developed view of the die;

FIG. 4 is a section through the die illustrating the packaging of the game parts; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the token used for ejection from the ejector.

In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a die 2, a game board 4, an ejector 6 and a token 8 in flight toward the board.

The die is hollow as illustrated in FIG. 4 and formed of an elastomeric material. One face 10 of the die is removable and is retained in contact with the adjacent walls by a lip 12 fitting in a V-shaped groove 14 in the walls. The walls are formed with a lip 16 fitting in a V-shaped groove 17 of face 10. The face can be removed by pressing on the walls 18 and 20 to deform the cup-shaped portion of the die to thereby squeeze the removable face out of its locked position with the walls. The face is applied by pressing it against the ends of the walls to deform the lips and seat it as illustrated in FIG. 4. By form ing the joint as illustrated the die will be honest i.e. not loaded to produce a predictable result when rolled.

FIG. 3 is a developed view of the die showing, by the different hatching, the different colors assigned to the faces. In the illustrated embodiment the blue face B has a single bar 22, the pink face P is supplied with two bars, the yellow face Y is supplied with three bars, the violet face V has four bars, the green face G has five bars, and the red face R has six bars.

FIG. 2 illustrates the game board having square and rectangular areas of colors corresponding to the colors of the die faces and designated by the same letters. However, circular areas W are provided having a color different from that of the other areas for a reason to be explained below. The board can be cloth, paper, or plastic but it is preferably flexible so that it can be folded and stored as illustrated in FIG. 4.

The ejector is a tube formed of an elastomeric material and of an external diameter to be easily grasped and manipulated by the hand H of a child. Each end of the tube is formed with a recess 24 congruent with the shape of the token such that the token 8 can be lightly pressed and frictionally retained in the recess.

In use, the tokens, board, and ejector are removed from the die by pressing the sidewalls to release the cover face 10 and provide access to the stored game parts. The cover is replaced by pressing it on to the cup-shaped die part to form a complete die. The game board is unfolded and spread on a support surface such as a floor. Each child who is to take part in the game is given a stack of tokens having a single color individual to each child. The first player rolls the die to select a color on the board which is to be the target for the next step of the game. As illustrated in FIG. 1 the die has been rolled to show the tar get as one having a blue color. The'child then inserts a token into a recess 24 and tries to e ect the token from the e ector onto the selected color which has been indicated in the given example as blue. This can be accomplished by squeezing the ejector as shown in FIG. 1 to force the token into flight toward the target color. If the token is deposited on the target color (square or rectangular) the child receives one point as designated by the single bar 22. Other colors vary in points as is indicated by the number of bars. In the event the token lands on the area marked W the player is given another opportunity to eject another token to try again for the target area. The game thus provides interest for the child in providing action in rolling the die and ejecting the token. His ability to recognize color and to count bars is developed and the power of concentration and muscular coordination is developed by his skill at ejecting the token onto a selected target. When the game is over the parts can be packaged in the die to prevent the parts from being lost.

I claim:

1. A hollow die of elastomeric material having a removable side, each face of the die having a color and indicia different from the color and indicia on the other faces, and a plurality of tokens, a folded game board, and an ejector packaged within the die.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the tokens comprise a plurality of groups with the tokens in each group being of the same color and the groups being of different colors.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the folded game board comprises a flexible sheet containing a plurality of different geometrical shapes, pairs of different shapes being of the same color, and the colors corresponding to the colors of the faces of the die.

4. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the ejector comprises a tube of elastomeric material, and a recessed opening at an end of the tube, said opening being congruent to the size of the tokens. 

